Starr resigns as Baylor chancellor in wake of scandal

'Captain goes down with the ship' in wake of sexual assault scandal

In this photo taken Wednesday, May, 25, 2016, Baylor President Ken Starr leaves a terminal at Waco airport in Waco, Texas. Baylor University's board of regents says it will fire football coach Art Briles and re-assign Starr in response to questions about its handling of sexual assault complaints against players. The university said in a statement Thursday, May 26, 2016, that it had suspended Briles "with intent to terminate." Starr will leave the position of president on May 31, but the school says he will serve as chancellor. (Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune Herald, via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT less

In this photo taken Wednesday, May, 25, 2016, Baylor President Ken Starr leaves a terminal at Waco airport in Waco, Texas. Baylor University's board of regents says it will fire football coach Art Briles and ... more

Photo: Rod Aydelotte, MBO

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FILE - In this May, 25, 2016, file photo, Baylor University President Ken Starr leaves a terminal at the airport in Waco, Texas. Starr resigned as Baylor's chancellor Wednesday, June 1, 2016, a week after he was removed as president of the Texas school amid a scandal over its treatment of sexual assault cases involving football players. (Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune Herald, via AP, File) MANDATORY CREDIT less

FILE - In this May, 25, 2016, file photo, Baylor University President Ken Starr leaves a terminal at the airport in Waco, Texas. Starr resigned as Baylor's chancellor Wednesday, June 1, 2016, a week after he ... more

Photo: Rod Aydelotte, MBO

Starr resigns as Baylor chancellor in wake of scandal

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Kenneth Starr on Wednesday stepped down as chancellor of Baylor University, taking personal responsibility as the recent university president for the sexual assault scandal that has rocked the college. He called his decision "a matter of conscience" and said "the captain goes down with the ship."

The former U.S. solicitor general, famous beyond Texas for investigating former President Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky, took the helm at Baylor in 2010. Six years later, he is leaving the school's administration in the midst of growing national scrutiny.

Starr was stripped of his role as president last week, after an outside investigation revealed a sweeping sexual assault coverup by Baylor football coaches and administrators. Now Starr told ESPN that he is resigning effective immediately as chancellor - a role he had been allowed to keep but which has no control over university operations.

Starr insisted again that he did not know about allegations of sexual assault at the university until 2015, when he called for an outside investigation, telling ESPN he was "behind a veil of ignorance." Starr plans to continue at Baylor as a law professor.

A report by the law firm Pepper Hamilton, portions of which the university released last week, found that football coaches and other athletic department officials knew about allegations of sexual assaults on campus by multiple football players and chose not to report them. Football at Baylor, the report said, "was above the rules." Baylor administrators frequently did nothing or discouraged students from reporting sexual assaults. In at least one instance, "those actions constituted retaliation against a complainant," according to the report.

A former Baylor student told ESPN on Wednesday that she had filed a complaint against Baylor with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, which enforces Title IX, a federal law requiring schools to fight gender-based violence and protect victims. A department spokeswoman said last week the federal government may investigate such complaints it receives against Baylor.

Shake-up in department

The Pepper Hamilton report sparked a broad administrative and athletic department shake-up at the Baptist college in Waco The university's board of regents fired Art Briles, the head football coach who led the Bears to recent winning seasons, demoted Starr and put athletic director Ian McCaw on probation. McCaw resigned on Monday, saying "a change in athletics department leadership is in Baylor University's best interest in order to promote the unity, healing and restoration that must occur in order to move forward."

The regents said last week that they also had fired or suspended numerous other administrators and athletics staff, but they wouldn't name them. In a statement on Wednesday, the regents said they "will continue to take the actions that progress the university and its leadership toward an environment of resolute accountability and responsibility as we relentlessly pursue the mission of Baylor University."

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Starr told ESPN he "respectfully but firmly" disagrees with some aspects of the Pepper Hamilton report, including the conclusion that Baylor's football team was above the rules.

Starr told the network that he thinks female students were safe on Baylor's campus, arguing that all of the assaults he is aware of happened off campus. According to federal crime statistics, however, there were eight reports of forcible sexual assault, four reports of rape and one report of fondling on campus between 2012 and 2014, the last year for which statistics are available.

Transparency urged

Starr urged the Baylor regents to be transparent about what they know regarding the sexual assault allegations. He insisted that he knew very little of what led to these allegations at Baylor.

"Let the sun shine in," Starr told ESPN. "Sunshine is the great disinfectant." Starr only spoke to the sports network about the troubling matter at Baylor. He did not respond Wednesday to a Houston Chronicle reporter's request for comment.

Baylor students and alumni want answers. Starr was a "beloved" leader at Baylor, said Vincent Harris, a Baylor alumnus. Just about every aspect of the university, from academics to research and athletics, improved during his tenure. The school climbed in college football power rankings and in the U.S. News & World Report academic rankings, alike. Starr helped raise millions to build a new football stadium in Waco. He was a familiar face on campus, where he ate, talked and walked with students, faculty and staff.

"Baylor students just want answers and they want a quick resolution to all of this drama," said Harris, who is CEO of Harris Media and chief digital strategist for U.S. Sen. Rand Paul. "Our beloved university is obviously in the midst of incredible turmoil where it seems apparent that different factions of the university are fighting each other - about transparency, about jobs, about the sexual assault issue. I think that the Baylor alumni just hope that we can learn from what's happened, that we can find out from the board of regents exactly what they know and that we can move forward."

Outside of statements issued by the university on behalf of the regents, university officials have refused to answer questions publicly about the sexual assault allegations and the Pepper Hamilton report. The school only has released a 13-page summary of the law firm's report, which includes no details on who specifically was involved in the sexual assault coverup, or when and how many assaults occurred.

Regents 'horrified'

"We recognize this is a tumultuous time for Baylor, most importantly for our current and former students and victims of sexual assault," the regents' statement said.

"We were horrified by what we learned from the investigation and again express our public acknowledgment and deepest apologies. The decisions made, and the actions we have taken, will ensure there is no room for deflection of responsibility or diminishing the experiences of the victims."

Bob Bowlsby, commissioner of the Big 12 Conference, said at meeting of conference university presidents and athletic directors in Irving on Wednesday, "We don't have any vantage point to sanction Baylor. It's a campus issue (and one) we are watching closely."